NORRISTOWN — A federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Norristown ordinance that penalizes landlords for the alleged behavior of their tenants was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The Norristown ordinance penalizes landlords and encourages them to evict their tenants when the police are called to a property three times in four months for “disorderly behavior,” including responding to incidents of domestic violence.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP against the municipality, former Municipal Administrator David Forrest, interim Municipal Administrator Robert Glisson, former Police Chief Russell Bono, interim Police Chief Willie Richet and Code Enforcement Manager Joseph Januzelli.

“We are planning to file a motion for preliminary injunction to prevent Norristown from enforcing the December 2012 ordinance while the case is pending,” said Sara Rose, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “We hope we will have a hearing soon. We hope this will be resolved quickly.”

Advertisement

Glisson said Wednesday evening Norristown officials had not received official notice of the lawsuit and therefore could not comment on the issue.

Norristown’s original landlord ordinance authorized municipal officials “to penalize landlords and cause those landlords to remove their tenants from their homes, where the tenants have required the assistance of law enforcement for incidents of ‘disorderly behavior’ at their rental properties,” the lawsuit said. “The ordinance authorized defendants to revoke or suspend a landlord’s rental license and forcibly remove a tenant from any property where the police have responded to three instances of ‘disorderly behavior’ at the property within a four month period.”

The first ordinance challenged by the ACLU was in effect until November 2012. It was replaced by a similar ordinance in December 2012 that imposed monetary penalties on landlords rather than revocation of an apartment rental license. The lawsuit challenges both ordinances.

Lakisha Briggs, a Norristown resident named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, was threatened with eviction under the ordinance after she called the police for protection from her abusive ex-boyfriend, an ACLU press release said. Briggs became reluctant to call the police in future incidents, including one in which her ex-boyfriend attacked her with a brick. When neighbors called the police for a final attack that resulted in Briggs being airlifted to the hospital, Norristown officials threatened her with forcible removal from her home, the press release states.

“I was shocked to find out that reaching out to the police for protection could instead lead to eviction for me and my family,” Briggs said in the ACLU press release. “Nobody should have to fear losing their home when they call for help.”

Briggs lives with her 3-year-old daughter.

Rose said that Briggs’ landlord instituted eviction proceedings around July 4, 2012, after a June 23, 2012, incident in which Briggs’ boyfriend stabbed her in the neck with a glass shard. A neighbor called police and Briggs’ was flown by helicopter for treatment.

Briggs was represented at the eviction hearing by an attorney from Montgomery County Legal Services. The landlord said he did not want to evict her, and District Judge Margaret Hunsicker refused to evict her after an Aug. 22, 2012, hearing.

Norristown officials sent an Aug. 27, 2012, letter to Briggs’ landlord again urging him to evict her, according to the suit. The ACLU responded with a Sept. 10, 2012, letter objecting to the eviction, and ACLU officials met with Norristown officials on Sept. 19, 2012, to discuss the legal issues. A written settlement agreement with Briggs was made on Oct. 25, 2012, by municipal officials, but in December 2012 a second landlord ordinance was enacted by Norristown council.

“The new ordinance in December was almost the same. Instead of taking away the rental license, the new ordinance levies fines which essentially have the same effect,” Rose said. “The first offense is $300 to $500 per day, the second offense is $500 to $750, the third offense is $750 to $1,000 and the fourth offense or more is a mandatory fine of up to $1,000 a day. The tenant never has an opportunity to challenge the police chief’s determination that a violation has occurred. The (police) citation goes to the landlord.”

“When a city penalizes a woman for requesting help for domestic violence, the system is broken,” said Sandra Park, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “Laws that stop tenants from calling the police are unconstitutional and can actually put lives at risk.”

Briggs has since found alternative housing and secured an order of protection against her ex-boyfriend, but she still lives in fear of requesting assistance and being evicted with her young daughter, according to the press release.

“This ordinance is not an isolated instance. There are several similar ordinances across the state,” Rose said. “They make domestic violence victims less safe. Norristown has identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness in the city. Families struggling to escape from abuse should at least be able to rely on law enforcement to serve and protect them.

“No one should have to endure what Lakisha and her family went through.”